What kind of deficiency does my dwarf sag and Val have?

[PattysAquatics]

So I have a bunch of dwarf sag and some Val mixed in growing for around a year now and had been awesome but just noticed a lot of it is starting to turn yellow. I don’t know if this is a nitrogen deficiency or something else. I have a 75 gallon and I use easy green fertilizer with 8 pumps on Saturdays and 4 on Wednesdays . Usually do water changes every other week and nitrates are around 50 according to the Coop test strips when I check before water changes. I also have the fluval plant light and the lights are on 10 hours a day that ramp up to a max of 80%. Any ideas or suggestions? Ps best pictures I could get at the time just finished a water change so there is a lot of air bubbles

[eatyourpeas]

I will venture to say it may be an iron deficiency. I use an iron supplement when that starts to happen. I think mine happened at around the one year mark as well.

Hopefully this helps:

[PattysAquatics]

On 1/1/2022 at 11:03 AM, eatyourpeas said:

I will venture to say it may be an iron deficiency. I use an iron supplement when that starts to happen. I think mine happened at around the one year mark as well.

Hopefully this helps:

I have easy iron but don’t use it. I could try that.

[eatyourpeas]

On 1/1/2022 at 12:16 PM, Grizzly said:

I have easy iron but don’t use it. I could try that.

I have never tried it, so I can't comment on it. I have used Leaf Zone at half the recommended dose.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi @Grizzly

I took your first picture, downloaded, enhanced, and enlarged it.  The result is below.

If you look closely you will notice that the leaf veins are a much darker green than the surrounding leaf tissue.  This is called interveinal chlorosis.  It can be caused by several different factors however the two most common ones are 1)  insufficient available iron or 2) insufficient available magnesium.  Notice I did not say you were not dosing a sufficient amount of the two nutrients.....just that those nutrients may not be available to the plants.    What is the pH of your tank?  -Roy

 

[PattysAquatics]

On 1/1/2022 at 5:33 PM, Seattle_Aquarist said:

Hi @Grizzly

I took your first picture, downloaded, enhanced, and enlarged it.  The result is below.

If you look closely you will notice that the leaf veins are a much darker green than the surrounding leaf tissue.  This is called interveinal chlorosis.  It can be caused by several different factors however the two most common ones are 1)  insufficient available iron or 2) insufficient available magnesium.  Notice I did not say you were not dosing a sufficient amount of the two nutrients.....just that those nutrients may not be available to the plants.    What is the pH of your tank?  -Roy

 

I just took this. I would say PH is 7.0-7.2

[Seattle_Aquarist]

On 1/1/2022 at 3:49 PM, Grizzly said:

I just took this. I would say PH is 7.0-7.2

Hi @Grizzly

I'm not a huge fan of test strips, they vary from moderately to extremely inaccurate based upon manufacturer and age of the kits.  That said, if it were my tank, I would first try dosing extra iron (Fe).  Why?  Since you have been dosing only Easy Green and your pH is above 7.0 it is likely only 10% - 20% of the ETDA iron that is the type of iron in Easy Green available to your plants.  (See chart below)

The Aquarium Co-Op Easy Iron will help make more iron available to your plants because it contains three types of iron; ferrous gluconate, DTPA  chelated iron , and EDTA chelated iron.  However, if it were my I would purchase Seachem Flourish Iron.  Why?  Because it is 100% ferrous gluconate which can be utilized by your plants even at high pH levels.

Whichever you choose, don't expect instant results because EXISTING LEAVES WILL NOT CHANGE.  Why?  Because iron is an immobile nutrient and sufficient amounts needs to be present when leaves are formed for good green color.  What you want to watch are your new leaves as they are formed, they should have their normal green healthy color and maintain that color as they mature.  Hope this helps! -Roy

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi @Grizzly

How are your plants doing with a change in iron?  Are the new leaves showing improvement?
 -Roy

[PattysAquatics]

On 2/5/2022 at 9:57 PM, Seattle_Aquarist said:

Hi @Grizzly

How are your plants doing with a change in iron?  Are the new leaves showing improvement?
 -Roy

I think it’s on the right path now so to speak. Lol  I started adding the Easy Iron and upped my light intensity but I think the combo of the 2 was too much because I started getting algae starting on my plants. So I cut the intensity back to my normal point. I also hadn’t added root tabs to the Dwarf sag or Val themselves ever so I got some from the CoOp and put them all through those plants . Now I’m still adding iron but not a full dose just a few pumps a week and things seem to start looking better. All the yellow leaves are dying off and don’t see any new ones starting and new growth looks normal. 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi @Grizzly

 

Good to hear you are having improvement.  I like to follow up and see how things are going after I make suggestions, sometimes more than one item is the issue.  Happy growing! -Roy

[PattysAquatics]

@Seattle_Aquarist 

Thanks for the help,I appreciate it.  It was frustrating because everything was going so good and boom. This forum and all the experience is an incredible tool to learn more of this hobby or lifestyle 😁. I love it.